Asian rugby powerhouse Japan ran in nine tries in a 59-6 win over Hong Kong yesterday, continuing their 100 percent record in the Asian Five Nations tournament.
The defending champions, much changed after last week’s 87-10 mauling of Kazakhstan in Osaka, proved too strong for Hong Kong, who failed to muster a single try.
Japan put the match beyond the home side’s reach in the first half and maintained their pressure in the second spell in hot conditions at the Hong Kong Football Club.
Japan head coach John Kirwan said he was happy to run out convincing winners after a bright start from Hong Kong.
Kirwan said: “I think Hong Kong played really, really well, especially in the first 30. We knew they’d come out at us really strongly in the first 20. They had the majority of the possession in the first half and we weren’t protecting the ball, but as the guys started hanging onto the ball, started recycling it, we started to get a bit more dominant.”
In a scrappy opening to the first half a Kenzo Pannell penalty took the score to 5-3 after an early unconverted try by Japan’s Jack Tarrant.
Hong Kong were able to maintain sustained pressure on the Japanese defense and a second Pannell penalty in the 32nd minute narrowed the deficit to 12-6, but two further converted tries gave powerful Japan a 26-6 lead at halftime.
In the second period, the visitors, who won all their fixtures in last year’s inaugural Asian Five Nations, exerted a stranglehold on the match, dominating possession and scoring five more tries as the home side flagged.
Japan’s Ryan Nicholas was on target with seven conversions.
Japan, ranked No. 16 in the world against Hong Kong’s 31, already have one eye on the 2011 Rugby World Cup, with Kirwan keen to build an extended squad of more than 30 players.
“We’re using the Asian Five Nations to make sure we put our systems in place, play hard, respect the opposition and also with one eye on the Pacific Nations and the World Cup,” Kirwan said.
Hong Kong coach Dai Rees said it was difficult to compete with the full-time rugby set-up in Japan.
“They train all day, they rest up. There’s a massive gulf in terms of physical ability when it’s a 30ºC day and the pace of the game is that high. It’s inevitably the full-time guys are going to come through,” Rees said. “We’ve just got to play smart next week against [South] Korea and control the pace of the game like we did first half and hopefully again we’ll be in the game for longer periods.”
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